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The family of former Kingdom Hearts Kairi voice actress and Heroes Claire Bennet actress Hayden Panettiere announced she died the evening of August 16, 2026. A cause of death was not announced. She’s been active and performing since 1996 and was 36 years old. [Thanks, ABC News!]
Hayden Panettiere has been working as a video game voice actress for almost as long as she’s been performing in movies and TV shows, though the Kingdom Hearts series and Kairi are what she’s best known for. After appearing as Dot in A Bug’s Life, she also reprised her role as that character in games based on the film. She later appeared as Tati in The Mark of Kri and Samantha in Until Dawn.
She served as the English voice actress of Kairi for both Kingdom Hearts mainline entries and spin-offs between the launch of the original PS2 game in September 2002 and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance on the 3DS. She also played Xion. However, in recent years Alyson Stoner voiced Kairi and Xion in games like Re:Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, Melody of Memory, and Kingdom Hearts III.
This news comes after two major D23 2026 announcements tied to the Kingdom Hearts series at Disney’s big event. One confirmed the fourth entry would launch in late 2027 and include a world based on the Pixar movie Coco. The other noted an animated series is in development for Disney+ and the Disney Channel.
The Kingdom Hearts 4 release date falls in late 2027 and it will appear on the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
